Falls of Friendship
by MiniAshke
Summary: Tsukino Niamh is a young chef with a lot of creativity and dedication for his job. Unfortunately for him, his rocky past decides to finally catch up with him. How will he face the one person who knows who he truly is and what will the shinobi of Konoha do when the discover the truth?


Disclaimer: I in no way own Naruto or any of the character. That is the sole property of the original author. I only one the new characters and the plot line of fanfiction story.

Meetings and Travels

Annoyed shouting could be heard from the Hokage tower, more specifically the mission room. Most ignored it by now, seemingly used to it. Those who did pay attention just shook their heads in amusement to hear the number one knuckle-headed ninja up to his usual rants. After Naruto had come back from his training with Jariya, the genin had been partnered up with his old teammate Sakura and the quiet, yet creepy, Sai. They had been doing well with D-rank mission, but it seemed Naruto continued to pester Tsunade about higher mission to compliment his new skills.

"Enough!" a shout was heard. Apparently Tsunade had finally given in to Naruto's demands. Those in the mission office gave a sigh of relief, glad to not have to deal with Naruto for a while since C-rank mission were usually sent out of Fire Country.

"Yes!" Naruto could be seen jumping for joy in a bizarre type of way while Sakura just face-palmed in exasperation. Sai just looked on with his usually blank face while their jonin leader Yamato sweat-dropped at the enthusiasm of Naruto.

Tsunade reached into the stack of scrolls beside her and quickly glanced through them before settling on one in particular. Passing the scroll to Iruka to write down in the schedule Tsunade clasped her hands in front of her and directed her attention to the group.

"This C-rank could border on B-rank, given the right circumstances, so take it seriously. " Naruto nodded as she continued, "Your goal is to escort an apprentice chef as he collects ingredients from River Country, Wind Country, Bird Country and finally Rain Country. There is a low chance of bandits, since it will only be food ingredients, but some of the ingredients are hard to gather, so you will have to do some of the work for the client. The expected time is two weeks." Iruka took the chance during her pause to hand the scroll to Yamato who took a quick glance at the information before stashing it in his pouch for later briefing. "The client, Tsukino Niamh, will be meeting you at the north gate in one hour, so don't be late."

Naruto saluted while the others verbally agreed and left the tower to pack for the trip.

Meeting at the gate an hour later they were greeted by the gate guards and a young man wearing a dark brown cloak and a pack of his own. The client, Tsukino-san looked to be just finishing up his teen years and had long golden hair tied in a braid and slender features. He smiled in greeting as the group met up and talked quietly with Yamato about the details of the trip. As everyone settled down, Yamato spoke up to explain the route they would take.

"Okay, listen up. We will first be heading north to River Country to collect the reeds and river plants first so that they have a chance to dry while we go through the outer edges of Wind Country. Tsukino-san has an extensive list of some of the herbs to find on the edge of the desert, so we will have to pay careful attention. In Bird Country, some of the harder to gather herbs will be our responsibility to collect as they well most often found on the sides of the cliffs there. Tsukino-san will only be able to help us identify them, but he has assured me that they will be easy to find. Finally, we will have to be very quick when going through rain country to gather the swamp plants and critters due to their need to be as fresh as possible upon delivery. Tsukino-san has provided some sealing scroll, but I expect you all to have some of your own as well, just in case." Yamato concluded. Gesturing towards the younger group members, they started out of the gate towards their first destination.

As they travelled Sakura walked beside Tsukino-san while Yamato walked front point and Naruto and Sai walked behind and to the sides. Walking with Tsukino, Sakura started a conversation about his job and some of the plants he hoped to gather. It turned out that Tsukino was an apprentice chef at one of the top restaurants in Konoha, much to Sakura's surprise due to his seemingly young age. He just laughed off her embarrassment at the comment and explained some of his favorite dishes to create. He then went on to explain what he hoped to accomplish with some of the herbs in Wind Country. Tsukino was apparently one of the top creators at the restaurant and was well known among his peers for fantastical food experiments.

Upon hearing this Naruto could not hold his urge to ask a question, "Nee, nee. Tsukino-san, do you create ramen?" Sakura suppressed her urge to smack her teammate on the head at the comment, not wanting to look bad in front of their client. She just managed to glare back at him instead.

Looking over his shoulder Tsukino commented, "There are many ways to expand on typical ramen recipes, but the best is often the simplest. I have created a gourmet ramen, but I'm not satisfied with the outcome since I feel that it is still missing something. Maybe you could try it out sometime and let me know what you think, since you seem to be known as the Ramen Expert." He teased.

"Yes!" Naruto fist pumped, happy at the promised chance to try new ramen. Sai just looked over at him briefly before concentrating on the road around them once again. Up ahead Yamato gave a small smile in amusement.

Tsukino just smiled back at Naruto in amusement before focusing on the road in front of him, not noticing the careful looks that Sai was directing towards him. The ink artist was slightly impressed with what he saw in the civilian. Not only was Tsukino Niamh fairly beautiful for a teenage boy, but he seemed to walk with a practiced grace that few could accomplish outside being a shinobi. This raised some suspicions for Sai, who decided to keep a closer eye on the apprentice chef. Meanwhile his artist side was contemplating how he would go about sketching their client.

Tsukino's long hair seemed to cascade down to the middle of his back when in the braid, and looked to be fairly straight when not in a braid. His narrow eyes shone with an unusual amethyst color that did not seem to exist anywhere else in Konoha. Likewise, his narrow face and soft nose led many to believe he was of noble heritage, which was aided by his perfect posture and graceful stride. Glancing down, Sai noticed Tsukino's small hands with calluses on his fingers where he would use a knife and clean finger nails often attributed to working in a kitchen. Physically Sai noticed that Tsukino's slightly tanned skin was a result of spending a fair amount of time outside the kitchen, and by the pace they were setting Sai quickly concluded that their client was no stranger to collecting herbs on trips across long distances. His worn out pack that he had slung over his shoulder was also an indication that he was no stranger to traversing across the country.

Satisfied with his current assessment, Sai focused a large portion of his attention to the road while a small part of his thoughts gathered around ideas for painting the scenery they passed. He decided to put off more thoughts of their client until they were in a different situation to see how he responded.

After a couple more hours of walking the group settled down to camp for the day on the edge of the border of River Country. Naruto and Yamato quickly went about setting up the campsite, while Sakura and Tsukino laid out the packs and tents to arrange around the site. Sai disappeared into the bushes to scout the area and set up traps for their protection. Coming across a small stream, Sai filled up his water-bottle after testing the water and not seeing any fish, headed back to the camp. Notifying the others of the fresh water source Sakura grabbed the cooking pot from its sealing scroll and went to collect water for the soup. Catching on to what Sakura was doing, Tsukino quickly went about gathering ingredients for the soup from his pack and cut them up in preparation.

As everyone gathered for dinner twenty minutes later, Naruto and Sakura were quick to praise Tsukino's soup while Yamato and Sai nodded in agreement. Tsukino just smiled in acknowledgement and continued to eat. Settling down for the night the shinobi set up a watch schedule and Tsukino curled up in his sleeping bag, mentally preparing for the next day.

Please review.

The next chapter will be from Tsukino's perspective, since I consider him the main character. This chapter was mostly a quick introduction of him from the other's perspective.


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